Colombia Factfile: Kidnap capital of the world

Colombia is the kidnap capital of the world. Every three hours someone is abducted by guerrillas who demand ransoms worth £100 million a year to fund their war against the state. Jeremy McDermott reports from Bogota

By Jeremy McDermott

12:00PM BST 28 Sep 2001

DAGOBERTO OSPINA, aged 9, drew a picture at school, a kidnapped child with a red band over his mouth, tears on his cheeks and chains on his hands and feet. He wrote underneath: "Is this how you shape Colombia's future?" The number of kidnaps in Colombia has increased despite a two-year peace process with the guerrillas A month later he was kidnapped, one of the 150 children currently being held for ransom. Kidnapping is Colombia's second most lucrative illegal industry after drugs, with one abduction reported every three hours. Officials believe three of every four go unreported. And children are increasingly popular targets as the kidnappers have found they get the ransoms much faster.

Being held for ransom is not a comfortable experience according to Jorge*, a factory foreman, aged 52, who spent eight months held captive by rebels. "They treated me like an animal. I spent most of the time chained to a tree, and slept on a bed of leaves with a couple of blankets. "The only time we were unchained was to go to the toilet, outside, or when the rebels moved camp. There was an ever-changing number of other hostages with me, up to 15 at one time," he said, his voice cracking as he plundered a part of his memory he has tried to erase.

Kidnapping used to be restricted to rich Colombians and foreigners. But that has all changed with advent of mass abductions and a programme the guerrillas, responsible for the majority of abductions call "miraculous fishing". It is named after the Bible reference when Jesus calls upon some of his disciples to become "fishers of men". It involves setting up roadblocks and netting anybody that comes through of any value. The result has been a massive drop in overland driving.

John Wade of the British company Control Risks, which supplies an internationally-respected kidnap prevention and mediation service, said: "We advise our clients not to travel by road. It is as simple as that."

So those who could afford it travelled by plane. But then the guerrillas developed a new twist. On April 12, 1999 a domestic flight was hijacked by five guerrillas, one dressed as a priest. They forced the plane to land on a remote jungle airstrip where their comrades were waiting, in full combat kit, to usher them into canoes on the nearby Magdalena River and into the jungle, part of the half of the country outside government control.

But the incident that brought the full horror of kidnapping home to Colombians, that showed them they were at risk everywhere, occurred at the end of May 1999. Thirty guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN) burst into Sunday service at La Maria Church in Cali. They ushered the entire 150-strong congregation, including the priest, into two waiting trucks and kidnapped them.

A week later, a fishing club on the Caribbean coast was returning from a successful day's sport when speed boats packed with heavily-armed guerrillas intercepted them and kidnapped 10 people, the most wealthy of the group. The ELN had struck again, and the message was clear: on air, sea or land, we can get you.

Most kidnappings last at least six months. The rebels are in no hurry, and are having to process several hundred cases at the same time. Dagoberto spent nine months of his nine years held by guerrillas, until a ransom was paid and tracked by Colombia security forces. After the boy was released, anti-kidnap troops followed the ransom to a guerrilla hideout and arrested 12 of the kidnappers. The boy was fatter on his release, but it was not due to soft treatment by his captors. He was fed only rice and plantains and not allowed any exercise.

Negotiations, by law, are only allowed to be conducted in association with a special government department headed by an anti kidnap czar. He has under his command a team of negotiators, psychologists and elite rescue troops. The procedure is well established, as it should be in a country where there were 3706 kidnappings recorded in 2000.

The kidnappers make contact a few weeks after the abduction, once they have got the hostage somewhere safe where security forces cannot effect a rescue. They then ask for an exorbitant ransom and the negotiations begin, and these take months.

However, there is a recent phenomenon where kidnappers get a faster return. It is called the express kidnapping, and affluent-looking people or foreigners are most at risk. This is where a person is kidnapped in the street and held for anything from an hour to a couple of days. Karl Penhaul, 33, a Briton who has lived in Bogota for almost five years, suffered a four-hour express kidnapping.

He said: "It was a classic yellow taxi. Once inside, the driver put down all the locks with a central locking device. A second car drew up behind the taxi, three guys jumped out, ran towards the taxi at which point the driver flipped up the locks and the guys got in with guns and knives forced me on to the floor of the taxi and took off at high speed." Mr Penhaul was relatively lucky because his ransom was only £200, all he could get out on his cash point card; and the fright of his life.

Kidnapping is an industry worth about £100 million every year, according to the government's Anti-Kidnap programme. Figures released by the army estimate that the rebels have amassed over £750 million in ransoms over the past eight years. Whilst the highest ransom on record is £5 million, the lowest, not including express kidnappings, was just £800.

There are few upper or middle class families who have not had a relative or close friend kidnapped. These people and foreigners live in constant fear of abduction. Those who can afford it live in the north of Bogota, where apartment blocks and housing complexes have 24-hour armed guards. Those at risk travel with bodyguards in bulletproof cars.

Despite a two-year peace process with the largest guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), kidnappings have increased. One of the reasons for this is the granting of almost £1 billion of aid, mainly military, by the US. The guerrillas have increased kidnappings to boost their income to try to match the US aid to the Colombia army.

Joaquin Gomez, official spokesman for the FARC, said: "We will stop the kidnappings when the armed conflict ends in Colombia. There are many people who are already paying, that is, they are paying their tax voluntarily. However, there are others who are not paying. Hence, we kidnap those who are not paying to ensure that they pay. This is a tax. Those who have the resources must pay their share."

Margarita*, 36, has already left for Mexico. Her father was released after eight months held by the FARC. Seventy per cent of the ransom was paid, the remainder to be handed over a month after the release. The father returned a different man, classic Stockholm Syndrome, believing that the guerrillas were his friends and that his family had not needed to pay the ransom as they were going to release him anyway. Therefore, there was no need to pay the final part. She said: "A squad of guerrillas arrived at the farm, forced my father on to his knees and shot him in the back of the head. The whole family is going to Mexico, and we will never come back."

*First names only are used to protect the identity of those interviewed.